Château Haut-Brisson – Anton Totibadze

Anton Totibadze is driven by his passions. He’s passionate about life, the surrounding world, and its evolution. He gets carried away by art whatever forms it takes. He is a fine gourmetand a connoisseur of wine. He gives the impression of a person who feels at ease in any environment. His extraordinary family is scattered between France, Germany, Georgia and Russia, and Anton is always up for a new travelling adventure.

He obtained a diploma in Graphic Design in the Highest Academic School of Graphic Design in Moscow, yet felt particular attraction towards painting: no wonder, considering the artistic pedigree of his family that goes several generations back. His paintings are now exposed side by side with the masterpieces of the State Russian Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia, Copelouzos Family Art Museum in Athens, Greece, and constitute solo exhibitions, as well as take part in group exhibitions in Europe and Asia. The geography of his artworks owned by private collectors is also quite impressive: Russia, Georgia, USA, France, Latvia, Estonia, Germany, England, Taiwan, Sweden, Switzerland, Netherlands, and will surely expand even more.

Exposed from the early age to works of various genres and styles he defines his own manner as “hedonist realism”. His still-lives immediately capture attention by their direct approach, precision, vivacity, and undeniable humor.

Staying in the Château Haut-Brisson inspired him to create an astonishing series depicting French gastronomic delights – artisanal cheeses and sausages, Atlantic fish and crabs, and certainly, grapes and wine. His sincere enjoyment in front of those “objects” literally bursts through the canvas, and we could tell you by experience that this young man surely understands the pleasure of a good feast. One of the first things he did upon arrival in the estate to treat the hosts was making delicious rotisserie chickens in the fireplace and serving them together with spicy traditional adjika sauce that he made himself and brought from Georgia. Naturally, accompanied by Château Haut-Brisson.

Anton uses multiple layers of paint to convey his allusions and a certain narrative. For instance, a specific hue of brownish orange that marks numerous backgrounds of his works is not at all casual. It’s a specific blend of Roussillon ochre that is extracted from the mines, glorified by Paul Cezanne.

Or, keen on using new techniques in perpetual search of an unexpected storytelling twist, he implicated epoxy paint to offer a different image depending on the luminosity as colors reveal themselves in the daylight, in the dark and under UV-rays. The series “Space” thus stores a treasure of few visual surprises, as well as a new one, that is currently in the pipe.

Anton works a lot with a photo camera as well, sometimes to picture his presentiments for a future painting. Here, on the contrary, he tends to be very old school, using solely film photography, as he prefers by far a silver-grained result to a pixel-sized. And he’s even a regular in a Parisian atelier Diamantino Labo that delivers him the exact prints he wants.

He is always eager to talk in detail about the things he loves. Whether it’s fishing (he actually came to France with a weighted line for bottom-fishing), or cuisine (marvels on the similar way of cooking on vine in France and Georgia), or voyages to natural sanctuaries (dreams of caressing a coati). This care for detail is quite obvious in the works that he accomplished during his art residence with us. Here and there, an attentive observer would notice a random magpie overflowing Haut-Brisson wines or the contours of picks of Branne church towers over the horizon.

Anton is genuinely loyal to his passions, gently deepening them as time passes by, just like in marriage. He adores his wife, a talented artist Alexandra Pasternak, with whom he shares not only a love story for more than 10 years by now, but also a common passion to art. Whilst they were savouring their art residence in the Château Haut-Brisson, Anton and Alexandra managed to create a range of painting telling intertwining chronicles. Moreover, both of them cooperate with the same art gallery – Kvartira S gallery created by Olesya Sudzhan – which supported them in their artistic journey further to the south of France.